Idaho State Accreditation Informational Series: Who is Our Accreditor?
March 18, 2021
Welcome to our series on accreditation! ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï’s institutional accreditation site visit is scheduled for October 5-7, 2021. To answer your questions on this process and its importance to ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï, we have prepared a series of questions and answers that will appear in ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï Today over the next few months. We begin with “who is our accreditor?â€
Who is our accreditor?
The (NWCCU) is ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï’s institutional accreditor. NWCCU accredits institutions in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. A directory of institutions accredited by NWCCU is available .
Other institutional accreditors include: New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE); Higher Learning Commission (HLC); Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE); Southern Association on Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC); Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC); and WASC Senior College and University Commission. These private, nonprofit organizations are members of the (C-RAC). A history of accreditation in the United States is available on the U.S. Department of Education’s .
Institutional accreditation involves a peer-review process that evaluates the institutions’ compliance with a set of standards. The process begins with an extensive self-study followed by an on-site visit by a peer review team. This rigorous process assesses the quality of educational programming and encourages a culture of continuous improvement. As C-RAC’s website states, “the primary focus for C-RAC members is to assure postsecondary quality and protect students.â€
NWCCU accredits ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï as an institution. In addition, some of ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï’s programs have specialized or programmatic accreditation. A list of ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï programs with specialized accreditation is available on this page under “Program Review Schedule.â€
Please direct questions about our upcoming accreditation to Darren Blagburn, Cindy Hill, Stefanie Shadduck, or Joanne Tokle.
Next in this series: what does accreditation mean for ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï?
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